


Nuova Alba

by kanascurrent



Category: Inazuma Eleven
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, Coming of Age, I'm Going to Hell, It Gets Worse, It's an AU of Season 2, Lots of Italian Children Suffering, Multi, So You Know It Will Be Filled With Pain, Teenage Drama, Teenagers Doing Things That Should Be Left To The Military, What-If, With Lighthearted Stuff Mixed In
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-29 08:25:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11436984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanascurrent/pseuds/kanascurrent
Summary: A 'what-if' story in which the Aliea Meteorite landed not in Japan, but in Italy. With a threat looming over the peninsula nation, the burden of stopping it lies in the hands of Celino Paolo and his team of young players gathered from all across Italy.Strength and willpower will be tested as they are pitted against these dangerous foes. Will they be able to endure it? Can they handle the pressure, or will it all end up breaking them?





	1. On the Horizon - Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! Kana here with my most ambitious fic idea yet! I'm really excited for this and I really hope that you all enjoy this!

“Sir it seems that we made a mistake in our calculations.” There was an eerie silence in the dim room as a scientist in a bright, pristine white lab coat slowly made his way inside. The only light source was coming from a large monitor that almost took up the entirety of the back wall. On the monitor, a map of the world was pulled up with several indistinguishable charts and a timer that was steadily ticking down.  “The location the meteorite should have made an impact with has changed considerably.”

“What do you mean by that?” A gruff voice responded. The scientist swallowed and his attention turned from the monitor to the chair facing in front of it. He could see the hand of the person sitting there, fingers drumming against the arm of the chair in a clear sign of irritation. “I thought your job was to predict the crash zone with precision.”  

“We thought we did…but it seems that things have changed now.” The scientist walked up beside the chair and glanced over to the side. He was met with a glaring stare from green eyes. He jumped a little, quickly staring back at the monitor. “As you know we had originally predicted that the meteor would fall in Japan…” He pulled out a small remote and zoomed in on the map to the country of Japan, a red circle marked over Mt. Fuji, where the meteorite was originally predicted to land.

“What changed?”

“I’m not quite sure…none of us are really. But whatever happened, the location of the meteorite has changed from Japan...” He pressed a button and the map shifted quickly, “...to Italy....” The map stopped and a red circle appeared over the peninsula country. “We predict that it will strike the Apennine mountain region, near the Corno Grande Mountain.”

“You do realize this has caused a major setback in my plans…” The tone of the man’s voice dropped to one of aggravation. The scientist felt shivers running down his spine.

“S-Sorry sir…but I’m certain we can still work with these conditions.” The scientist gripped onto the remote in his hands nervously, as a heavy silence fell in the room. He almost felt the weight of the atmosphere on his shoulders.

“We will have no other choice.” Another moment of silence. “See to it that nothing like this happens again. And see to it that the area the meteor will fall is locked down. No civilians or officials other than our own are to get anywhere near this…”

“Yes sir.” The scientist gave a small bow and turned quickly to leave the room, his heart pounding in his chest harder than a drum.

In the quiet room, sharp green eyes stared at the monitor as a button on the side of the chair was pressed. A few moments passed quietly before a voice spoke.  
  
“Yes, my Lord?”  
  
“I have a new task for you…”

* * *

 

“You know I usually do not leave my home and my duties on such short notice, especially if it requires me to come to the mainland…this business you have called me on better be important.” An older woman with long silver hair gave a soft hum as she stared out the window of the car she was currently in. She watched the road and the scenery as it passed.

“Ah yes, I know that you are a very busy woman. A hard to find woman as well.” Next to her sat a pale skinned man in a long black trench coat. His eyes were hidden behind pitch black sunglasses, so it was hard to tell exactly where he was looking.

“I don’t give my information out to just anyone now.” The woman smiled and her icy blue eyes glanced over at him. There was something about him that seemed off. He almost bled with suspicion, but her mind wasn’t about to question it. Right now, the only thing she could think about was why she was being brought out to the middle of seemingly nowhere.

“Well I suppose it’s a good thing we had an associate of yours help us out.” The man gave a smile. “Otherwise it would have taken much longer to find you, Mrs. Campana.”

Mrs. Campana hummed softly and crossed her arms over her chest, her fingers drumming against the sleeve of her lavender coat. “I see…well I hope that this encounter is short lived.”

“I apologize for any inconvenience that this has caused you. I assure you as soon as we are finished here we will take you back to your…home.”

“Thank you, young man.” Mrs. Campana smiled and once again turned to look out the window. “Where are we headed to exactly? It feels like we’ve been driving for hours now, since you picked me up in Rome...”

“Don’t worry, we should be there soon enough.”

Mrs. Campana only nodded as she continued to stare out the window, her eyes transfixed on the high mountains and cliffs surrounding them. A while back they had veered from the main road onto this back road, which had been fenced off until their arrival. It was all very curious, but once again, she didn’t think about it.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity in the car with this very suspicious man, they stopped. The first thing that she noticed when she looked ahead was the entrance to a facility built into the mountain. It looked like it could potentially be a secret military facility, but if that were the case, then why was she brought here?

“What is this place…?”

“A facility that was built about six months ago. We’ve been doing some studies on a very valuable object here.” The man smiled as he got out of the car. Mrs. Campana narrowed her eyes questioningly before opening her door. She had barely placed her feet on the ground, when she heard a loud, boisterous voice.

“Giselle!!”

“Caesar!?” She turned her head as a man about the same age as she, with slicked back grey hair and a short cut beard, hurried over to her, his steps very energetic despite his apparent age. Once he stopped in front of her, he paused and took in several deep breaths.

“Giselle!” He gave Giselle a very unexpected hug, which made the woman’s eyes go wide in surprise. But, her surprised look quickly turned into that of happiness and she returned the hug gratefully. “Giselle it’s been years since we’ve seen each other!” He pulled away and kept his hands on her shoulders as he gazed into her icy blue eyes with his soft orange ones. “I see you’re still as lovely as ever though.”

Giselle chuckled and brought a hand up to cover her mouth. “And I see you haven’t changed a bit. You are still as boisterous as you were about twenty years ago. I suppose you are the one who told these people who I was?”

Caesar’s expression dropped, but only slightly. “Strangest thing about that, they were the ones who asked me about you. Apparently, they need your cooperation in this project that we’ve been working on for the last few months.”

“We?” Giselle tilted her head. Caesar gave a chuckle, rubbing the back of his head.

“Yes, well, who do you think gave them the mining equipment to help build this base here? You should see what these people have been working on Giselle…it’s…it’s absolutely fascinating.”  There was a sparkle in those sunset colored eyes that made Giselle smile softly.

“Oh? And just what is this thing that they have been working on?”

“Well it’s hard to explain without you actually seeing it.” Caesar hummed as he pulled at the sleeves of his brown leather coat. “Something very special struck this mountain and they’ve been studying how they can use it to benefit humanity.”

“And they require me here for something like that…?”

“About that.” Another voice spoke up, this one deep and raspy. Giselle turned her head and met eyes with a tall, lanky man with a malicious smirk. “If you would come with me, we can explain more away from this dreadful outside…”

Giselle pursed her lips and moved behind Caesar. There was something about this strange man that she didn't like. Something about the look in his deep black eyes made her feel deeply uneasy.

“Yes…” Giselle gave a soft hum. “There is quite a chill out here…” She glanced over at Caesar who just grinned at her like an excited child. She could only figure that he wasn't as disturbed by the other man as she was.

The lanky man led them inside of the facility, and Giselle looked around curiously. The walls were tall and a bright, sterile white and the sound of her heels meeting the ground echoed off the equally white tiles.

“This place looks more sterile than a hospital.” Giselle looked around some more, the only things that weren’t white were the thick metal doors that they would occasionally pass. There were no windows, so she didn't have any idea as to what could lie on the other side, but she could hear the whirling and cankering from various machines and computers.

“Well we have to keep this place clean and bright. We are doing some very delicate work after all.” The lanky man turned back and gave a condescending smirk. Giselle narrowed her eyes and stepped a bit closer to Caesar as they continued down the long corridor. 

Finally, the three of them reached the end of the corridor where there was a massive steel door, adorned with a multitude of warnings in various languages. Giselle raised an eyebrow in concern. There was no way that these warnings were an indicator of anything good.

“With so many warnings, is it even safe for us to go inside…?” Giselle asked, tapping her foot against the linoleum tile. The lanky man just smirked.

“Oh do not worry. I promise that everything will be alright. These warnings are mostly here to deter those who would try to access the room without proper clearance.” Giselle didn't buy this at all. The longer she stood in front of the door, the more uneasiness seeped into her mind.

“If you insist…” She brought a hand up as she cleared her throat. “So…are we going to go inside or not?”

“Ah yes, how rude of me to keep a lady waiting…” The man held up a remote and pressed it. Gears began to creak and turn as the doors slowly parted. Giselle gasped at the sight that was revealed.

In the back of the massive room, there was a large and incredibly beautiful purple crystal held up by a system of support beams. The Crystal was so large that there was a staircase to the near top.

Giselle covered her mouth in shock. She had never seen anything like this in her entire life. The mere sight of it filled her with awe.

“Pretty incredible, isn't it?” Caesar looked over at Giselle with a wide grin plastered on his face. For a moment, all Giselle could do was stare at him before returning to her transfixion on the crystal.

“It is…”

“It's called the Aliea Meteorite. It fell here several months ago.” The lanky man spoke. “We’re currently studying it and we believe that it holds immense amounts of power that would strengthen the average human tenfold!” He led Giselle and Caeser into the room, the door loudly closing behind them.

“That sounds absolutely fascinating!” Giselle beamed. The three of them walked up the stairs and approached the meteorite, bathed in the purple light that it emitted.

The lanky man’s smirk grew. “Now that we are here…allow me to discuss the reason you were brought to this location, Mrs. Campana.”

Giselle and Caesar both turned and looked at him curiously. Giselle couldn't help but feel a small sense of dread sink into her heart.

“Y-Yes…?” Giselle bit her lip, ashamed that she had stuttered. She quickly cleared her throat and regained her composure. “Why did you bring me here? I don't really see how I would have anything to do with this.”

The lanky man paced around the two of them, his grin growing more and more malicious.

“Well you see, my boss has undertaken a very advanced project and studying the Aliea meteorite is a very important branch of that project. The only problem is: we don't have anyone to test this on.”

Caesar blinked. “I don't see what this has to do with Giselle…?”

“Ms. Campana…you do own an orphanage, correct?”

Giselle jolted upright and looked at this man with fire in her eyes. “My children are off limits!! They are not your guinea pigs!!”

The man raised his hands in front of him defensively. “Don't get so worked up. You don't understand, your children will be granted a gift. They will have power beyond human understanding. There will be nothing they can't accomplish!”

Giselle’s breath hitched. “What's the catch!? There is always a catch!!”

“As part of the experiment we’re going to have them undertake certain missions with the end goal of bringing down the government….”

Caesar and Giselle both gasped at this, fear running through their veins. “W…What? That's absurd!! Are you a madman!?”

There was a chuckle. “Oh, you two don't understand…or do you…?”

“What are you getting at!?”

The man hummed, placing his hands behind his back. “Thirty years ago…Alessio Campana…”

Giselle gabbed the man by his collar and dragged him down to her eye level. The look on her face was nothing short of absolutely furious.

“You know nothing about him!” She shouted.

“Let the dead rest in peace!” Caesar followed. His rage was nearly on par with Giselle's. The mere thought of Alessio’s name possibly being tarnished sent them both over the edge.

“You two haven't even let me get to the point. The point being that you two know better than anyone what that man did. He sided against his own country in the last World War, sending information to the allied nations.”

Giselle took in a sharp breath and Caesar covered his mouth in shock. “H-How do you know this?” Giselle asked, her eyes wide.

“My boss did some digging around…honestly, you both know that accident thirty years ago was indeed no accident.” He circled behind the two of them and his voice dropped to a whisper. “Wouldn't you two want revenge against the government that killed him.”

Giselle stepped away. “You're lying. It was a freak accident and nothing more!!”

“Deep down you know that's a lie…don't you want to avenge the life of your husband…of the life that you were denied?”

“Not if it’s at the cost of my children.” Giselle glared at the man.

“Your children probably want just as much revenge as you, revenge against this cruel world that abandoned them. Come on Giselle, see the light here! Think about it: you, Caesar, and your children will be the starters of a revolution!”

“I…I can't…” Giselle backed up close to Caesar, who gave a resigned sigh.

“Giselle…maybe he has a point.”

Giselle turned sharply to face her friend. “Are you kidding me!? Don't tell me you are buying this nonsense!?”

Caesar turned and gripped tightly to the metal rails as he stared down at the meteorite. There was a focused look in his intense eyes. “I just...when I look at this meteorite…I can just imagine how much we could change the world…”

“Caesar…” Giselle’s eyed grew sorrowful as she walked over and stood next to him. She too glanced at the meteorite, and when she did, her heart started to pound. The more she stared, the more memories came back to her. Memories of being hurt, of watching her life fall apart, the stories of her broken and abandoned orphans. She closed her eyes and a few tears fell down her cheeks.

She too wanted the change that Caesar and this man spoke of.

There was a heavy silence that was finally broken by a soft sigh from Giselle.

“Alright…I'll do it…I'll agree with this.” Her hands gripped the rail so tightly her knuckles were white. “If it means avenging my husband, I'll do it…”

Caesar gave a nod. “And I will continue to offer my support as well.”

The lanky man gave a chuckle. “Excellent…excellent…don't worry Mrs. Campana…your children will be _fine_ …”

* * *

 

“You did it, _frati_! You did it!!” A small pale girl with curly blonde pigtails and bright green eyes excitedly jumped around in place, a large smile plastered on her face. A few feet away a tan skinned boy, not much taller that her, was knelt over panting, standing in front of a torn goal. He wiped away some sweat and dirt from his sunburned face as he slowly stood up straight. Surrounding him were several old and worn soccer balls, covered in wear and tear and dirt. The two children were playing in an old lot with a very makeshift soccer field that was mostly dirt, with weeds taking over any patch of grass left.

“I-I did…I-I did it!!” The boy jumped up with a smile. “Just wait until mama sees it! She'll be so proud of me!” He brushed some dirt from his dark brown hair before dusting off his dark shorts and tank top.

The girl giggled and ran over to him, hugging him tightly. “I know I'm proud of you!!” She obviously didn't care that she was getting his dirt and sweat on her cute blue sundress.

The boy hugged her back, spinning in place. “Come on we should get home! Mama must be back from her trip by now.”

“Mmhm!” The girl took his free hand as he leaned down and picked up one of the balls. Together they left the field and began walking home together. They passed through a small market before arriving at their home, which was a large orphanage.

The two children walked over to the front door and were about to go inside, when something caught their attention. A black car with tinted windows pulled up by the orphanage.

“Who do you think it is…?” The girl asked. The boy turned to her and shrugged. Their attention quickly turned back to the car as the passenger door opened and Giselle exited.

Their eyes lit up and they excitedly ran up to her. “Mama! Mama! You're home!!”

“Mama! _Frati_ mastered his super cool move!! You have to see it Mama!”

“Yeah Mama I really want to show you!!”

They looked up at Giselle with their bright eyes, but, their expressions quickly dropped when they noticed how solemn her face was.

“Mama…?” The boy tilted his head in confusion. “What's wrong, Mama…?”

Giselle smiled softly and patted the two on top of their heads. “You can show me later, my darlings…” She walked past them and entered the orphanage. The two children looked at each other with discouraged looks on their face.

“My, my, look at you two…” They flinched at the sound of a unfamiliar voice. When they turned they were met with dark eyes and an even darker smile.

The girl hid behind her brother, shivering. He raised his arms up to shield her away from this rather creepy man.

“Oh don't worry I'm not going to hurt you…but things are about to change around here, my dears…” The man chuckled as he walked past them, following Giselle into the orphanage.

“Who was that…he scares me…”

“I don't know, but I promise I won't let him hurt you!” The boy turned to his sister and took her hands in his own.

“Promise…”

“Promise!!”


	2. Falling Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five years after the events of the prologue, the story opens with Fideo Ardena and his two friends just having a normal, average day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, sorry that it took me this long to get this chapter out. I don't know how much of a schedule I can promise considering most of these chapters are going to be rather long probably, but I'll try to keep a somewhat balanced schedule. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy!

**Five Years Later...**

* * *

 

“Come on Fideo! Pass the ball!” A boy shouted as he ran across the field, waving his arm vigorously. His pale seafoam green hair bounced with every step he took and his sharp violet eyes were locked on the nearby brunette.

“Here!” Fideo kicked the ball, bringing up bits of grass and dirt in the process. The ball flew over to the other boy who was making a mad dash towards the goal, skillfully slipping past the defenders with his thin, small frame.

“Take this, Donato!!” He viciously kicked the ball towards the goal and its goalkeeper, a tall, lean boy with sharp black eyes and curly silver hair.

“Oh, come on, you're not even trying!” Donato laughed and quickly lunged to the left to catch the ball – only for it to curve and slip right past his fingers. “Eh?” Donato barely had time to react before the ball hit the net behind him and he landed face first into the grass. There was a moment of silence before the others heard a muffled groan from the goalkeeper.

They all stopped and stared at Donato as he sat up, spitting dirt and grass out of his mouth. He took off his glove and quickly wiped his face off. “Ugh…disgusting.” The boy who made the goal was the first to burst out into laughter and the rest quickly followed suit.

“Hey that's not funny!” Donato shouted. He stood up and brushed himself off. “Don't make me come over and slap each one of you on the head!”

The laughter quickly died down into snickers and small giggles. Most of the players were holding their hands over their mouths to muffle themselves.

“Alright boys that's enough for today!” Heads turned and a man with graying black hair and heavily lidded eyes walked onto the field. The players nodded and most of them began to disperse from the field to shower and change. “Giosué, your curve shot has improved considerably.”

“Thank you, Coach Mazza!” Giosué smirked and gave a thumbs up. “Got to get better if I want to match up to Captain over here~!” He jutted his thumb in Fideo’s direction. Fideo blushed modestly.

“You're just as good a forward as me.” He stated with a nervous smile.

“Yeah but you're the ace of the team. Plus, your _Tecnica_ is so powerful! It's what won us Nationals!” Giosué exclaimed, raising his arms in a very dramatic gesture.

Fideo scratched at his red cheeks. “ _Freccia d’oro_ is a powerful move, but I think I could come up with something even more powerful if I worked hard enough.” He slowly took a step back and looked at the goal. “I can see it in my head already. It’ll be something that will rival even the famed Excalibur technique of the Valtinas family.”

Donato walked over and stood next to Fideo, whistling. He tilted back on his heels and stared at the cloudless sky. “That technique has been in their family for like twenty years, not even your dad could match up to it…”

Fideo took in a deep breath. “I'm going to be a player even stronger than my Papa!” He continued to stare at the goal, a determined look on his face. “I'll be the best pro player to ever come out of Italy.”

Giosué came up behind Fideo and wrapped an arm around him, pulling him close to his warm body. “You're so ambitious, Fideo!” He grinned widely and poked at Fideo’s cheek with his other hand. “I think it's pretty cool that you want to beat Excalibur! Maybe one day you'll get that chance.”

As Fideo nodded in agreement, Coach Mazza approached the little group. He had a hand to his goatee, his lidded eyes staring the three boys down. “A move to rival Excalibur… That would be something to see indeed.” He hummed softly, gaze fixated solely on Fideo now. “Just don’t push yourself trying to unlock such a powerful move. We may have already won Nationals this year, but I still need you in peak health.”

“Yes sir!” Fideo assured.

Giosué crossed his arms behind his head. “Well, with that said, we should probably get going home don’t you guys think? I mean I don’t know about you two, but if I come home late again, my Mama is going to have a fit.” He kicked at the grass bellow his feet and pursed his lips thoughtfully. Fideo and Donato looked at each other and wordlessly agreed with Giosué, nodding their heads.

The three of them gathered their things and headed to the locker room. Once they were alone in the cool room, Giosué let out a huge, relieved sigh. “…Why does it have to be so humid out today…?” He lifted off the dark green and silver uniform top, leaving him in in a tight black tank top underneath. Humming, he tossed his shirt to the side, only to have it hit Donato in the face as he was taking off his own shirt.

 “Hey watch where you throw things!” Donato grumbled.

“Not my problem.” Giosué walked over to his locker. “You’re a goalkeeper so you should be aware of objects headed in your direction.”

“This is not the same thing as a soccer ball!” Donato grumbled. Bending down, he picked up a towel left behind by one of the other players and crumbled it into a ball. Fideo sighed and watched Donato toss the ‘ball’ at Giosué, almost knocking him off his feet.

“You ass!” Giosué tossed the towel back at him, glaring in annoyance. Donato smirked in response and chuckled.

“Should always have your focus on everything around you, Mr. Forward.”

Giosué opened his mouth to say something witty or sarcastic in response to that, but instead found himself drawing complete blanks in his head. So, he stood there in silence momentarily before he closed his mouth, turning his attention to his locker. He opened it and pulled out his sports bag, digging around a little. After a minute of digging he took out a blue tee shirt and slid it on.

Donato gave him a curious look. “Not gonna shower first.”

Giosué shook his head. “Nah, I can shower when I get home. I wanna leave before my mama starts calling me, worried about me and stuff…you guys know how she is….”

Fideo and Donato look at each other before shrugging and nodding. “Yeah, well I’d feel better taking a shower at my house anyway.” Donato stretched and dug in his bag for his own clothes. “The water pressure here is the equivalent of standing outside when its sprinkling.”

The three of them, rather than shower, changed into their casual clothes and left the locker room. Not too long after they stepped outside, Giosué’s phone started ringing, playing a playful tune. Giosué pursed his lips and took the phone out of his bag. “Hey mama…yeah I’m fine, Coach just kept us for practice a little later than usual. You don’t have to worry, you know I always have Donato and Fideo with me.” There was a brief pause. “Speaking of that, you mind if I invite them to hang out after dinner?”

Donato stared at Giosué with a deadpanned expression. “He’s doing the thing again, Fideo…”

A small blush rose to Giosué’s freckled cheeks. “S-Shut up…I meant to ask if you guys wanted to come over before practice started. It just slipped my mind…”

Fideo rolled his eyes. “Giosué, I think this is the seventh time this month you’ve done this…”

Giosué’s blush grew brighter. Fideo and Donato could hear his mother laughing over the phone. “W-Whatever…mama said that it was okay, so do you want to come over or not!?”

Donato crossed his arms behind his head. “Sure, why not, but you have to let me use the first player controller when we play FIFA…”

Giosué crossed his arms and huffed. “Fine, fine, I guess you can use the cool controller.” He stuck out his tongue. “Now come on before we miss the bus.” Giosué hurried past the other two, jogging his way towards the bus stop outside of the academy. Fideo quickly gave chase after him, leaving Donato standing in shock as he watched his two friends.

“W…We just got out of a three-hour practice. How do these two still have the energy to jog across campus…?” He shook his head and sighed. “Wait for me!!” He took off after the two of them, despite his exhaustion. He could hear Giosué laughing in the distance.

“This is why you are a goalkeeper! You are way too slow!”

Donato narrowed his eyes. “Oh, I will show you who’s slow.” He put forth all the energy he had left to pick up speed, running past a surprised Fideo and straight towards Giosué. Giosué squeaked when he turned his head and started running faster, hoping he could outrun his taller friend. Unfortunately for Giosué, Donato’s long legs gave him an advantage as he sprinted and it only took a few seconds before he caught up to Giosué and grabbed him by the waist, lifting him up in the air as he skidded to a halt.

Giosué screamed and squirmed around, attempting to wiggle his way out of Donato’s strong grip. “I-It was just a joke! Put me down!!”

“I don’t feel like it now.” Donato threw Giosué over his shoulder and continued his way to the bus stop, despite Giosué’s cries of protest and assault to his back with his fists. “Keep that up, you may work out the knot I got back there.”

“Have I ever told you how much of an _stronzo_ you are?” Giosué asked in a small voice. Donato looked up at the sky, a contemplative expression on his face.

“I think this is the the second time today and the eighth time this week.”

“Well you are! You are a huge _stronzo_!!” Giosué glared and hit Donato on the back again just as Fideo finally caught up with the two of them. Fideo shook his head and gave a small smirk.

“Honestly it is as if you two were a married couple.” Fideo hummed, crossing his arms. Giosué and Donato’s faces went bright red in response and Donato wordlessly sat Giosué back on the ground. Giosué grumbled and walked over to Fideo, pinching his nose. “Ow!”

“Don’t be silly, Fideo! We’re not even dating.” He grumbled in a low voice.

Fideo quirked an eyebrow at this. “You say that as if you would date Donato.”

Giosué paused, his cheeks still red. He slowly turned his head to look at Donato, who gave the two of them a curious look. “Well…I could if I wanted to…that’s not saying I would I…you know what I mean!!” He turned away and pouted. Fideo shook his head and smiled.

 “I completely understand you.” Fideo stated, a hint of sarcasm to his voice. Giosué playfully shoved Fideo and continued walking. Donato, who had been knocked completely out of this little loop, didn’t know what had just occurred between them. He was sure that it was something stupid, though.

“Are you two done now?” Donato asked, walking out of the school gate with Giosué. Giosué nodded, face still a flustered red. He looked over at Donato and took in sharp breath, puffing up his chest. Fideo covered his mouth to hold back a laugh as they stopped at the bus stop in front of the academy.

“Yeah we're done.” Giosué huffed. “Anyway...what do you guys think is going to happen now that nationals are over…?” He asked, hoping to violently drift the subject away from what he and Fideo had mentioned just moments ago, the last thing he wanted was for that topic to somehow continue and cause him even more embarrassment.

Fideo placed a finger to his lips and stared up with a very contemplative expression. “That is a good question. From what I have heard, there are no plans for an international tournament anytime soon.”

“That sucks.” Donato said dryly. “I don’t think there has been an international youth tournament in about two years…I want to see what the rest of the world has to offer. I hear there are a lot of good players catching the spotlight lately in different countries.”

“I read on the internet that not too long ago some underdog team in Japan won their national tournament…I do not remember what the team name was but I think they were from Tokyo.” Giosué leaned against the bus stop pole. “Aside from that, and some otherwise unknown team in Brazil completely dominating a tournament, most of the worldwide soccer news I have read about is just same old, same old…”

Donato tapped his foot against the concrete, pursing his lips. “An international tournament would really give us the chance to hear about new soccer players and such. Who knows, maybe we would have what it takes to be recruited into a team to represent all of Italy.”

Fideo tilted his head. “We won Nationals…do you not think that is enough to have all of us go to the world stage.”

“Maybe…but you never know what kind of talent could be lurking that we haven’t heard about.” Donato said, raising a finger in front of Fideo’s face. “If there is one thing I have learned from going up against all those other teams, is that there’s some serious hidden talent in this country…we just happen to have a denser amount of those types of players. I mean we have you Captain, the son of _the_ Vitale Ardena, and Giosué, who not only talented, but people constantly underestimate him.”

“And then I kick their asses with my curve shots!” Giosué exclaimed while kicking his foot high in the air. Donato nodded in agreement, smiling at both him and Fideo.

“Exactly. That’s just the start of the talent on our team. We are practically untouchable.”

The bus pulled up to the stop and the three of them boarded, effectively ending that conversation. For the duration of their ride home, the three of them talked about simpler things, like their plans for the evening and the upcoming weekend. Finally, the bus came to a stop outside the small village they lived in.

After they had stepped off the bus, Fideo took out his phone and looked down at the screen with a small frown. Catching this, Giosué leaned against his friend, giving him a somewhat concerned look. “Hey what is the matter…?”

“Oh, it’s nothing really. I just haven’t heard from my Papa today and usually I would have heard from him by now.” He muttered. Giosué and Donato blinked and looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

“He is in Rome right now, correct?” Donato asked as the three of them began walking towards their homes. Fideo wordlessly nodded in response.

“He is taking part in a get together with his team and some of the new pro players. It is strange for him to not send me at least one message so far today, he has done that the past three days.”

“Maybe he was just really busy having fun today! I’m sure he will call you later tonight!” Giosué reassured, wrapping an arm around Fideo. Fideo took in a deep breath and held it for a moment, letting it out in a sigh.

“Yes, you are probably right. I should not worry too much.”

“It’s okay, we all know you are the biggest worrier between the three of us!” Fideo’s face went red at this, and he gently pushed Giosué away from him. “What? It’s the truth, no?”

“Doesn’t mean you have to say it out loud…” Fideo mumbled under his breath, gripping tightly to the handles of his sports bag. Giosué giggled a little, covering his mouth with his hand.

Once the three of them were close to home, they parted ways, promising to meet at Giosué’s house after six. Fideo continued to his home and opened his gate. He could see his mother, Silvia, sitting outside on the swing hanging in their porch. When she saw her son, her green eyes happily lit up.

“Fideo! How was school today?” She smiled and stood up as Fideo approached. Fideo smiled warmly.

“It was just fine, Mama!” He hopped up the porch steps. “Have you heard from Papa yet today?”

Silvia pouted a little and cupped one of her cheeks with her hand. She shook her head and sighed. “No, I have not _._ He promised that he would call before dinner, but I have not heard a thing from him. I hope he isn’t getting himself into any trouble…”

“Huh…maybe he’s just been busy…”

“Maybe so…” Silvia hummed. “Speaking of busy, you smell. Did you not take a shower before heading home, young man?”

Fideo’s face went red and he averted his eyes from his mother’s judgmental gaze. “N-No…I did not…”

Silvia crossed her arms. “Tsk-tsk. That is no good. Go bathe right this instant. I will not start dinner until you are clean.”

“But, mama!” Fideo began to protest, but a glare from Silvia quickly stopped him in his tracks. A small whimper slipped past his lips and he shrunk a bit in embarrassment. “Yes, mama…”

Fideo walked inside his house and sat sports bag by the door, hanging his backpack on a hook. Silvia followed behind him, shutting the door. Before she could say anything else, Fideo scurried to the bathroom.

“Ah what am I going to do with that boy…?” Silvia asked herself. She glanced down when she felt a familiar presence rub against her leg. “What do you think, Sonno?”

The grey tabby looked up at his owner with content, squinty eyes and purred loudly. “Oh, who am I kidding? You are probably only thinking about dinner right now. You are no different from him.”

Sonno looked up with big, blue eyes, letting out a small meow as he continued to rub against Silvia. Silvia shook her head and knelt on her knees, scratching him behind his ear. “Alright. Since you don’t need to take a bath, I will give you your dinner.”

“Meow!”

After Fideo had showered and changed into a fresh pair of clothes, he headed into the living room. At this point, the smell of dinner was already filling the house. Fideo melted at the delicious scent and he plopped down on the couch, turning around so he could dangle off the back a little and face the kitchen.

“What is for dinner, Mama?”

“Chicken Lemon Soup.” Silvia hummed. Fideo nodded and turned back around. He grabbed the tv remote off the coffee table and turned the channel to the evening news. They were currently going on about something political, which didn’t interest Fideo in the slightest. However, the broadcast was soon interrupted with a breaking news announcement.

_“I am currently standing outside of Stadio Olimpico where just moments ago, the sound of a loud explosion was heard. As you can see behind me, there is smoke rising from the stadium and police and emergency crews are gathered outside. There was no one in the stands, however, from what I am hearing, crews came in to discover the entirety of the Juventus team, including several members who had retired in the past, unconscious and having sustained injuries of varying degrees. However, none of them were considered dangerous enough to list anyone as being in critical condition. This is an ongoing situation and we will bring you more information as the story develops.”_

Fideo’s eyes went wide in shock, and from the kitchen, he heard his mother gasp. Before either of them could say anything in response to what they had just heard, the telephone rang. Fideo turned around and watched his mother answer the phone, a panicked look on her face.

“H-Hello? Yes, this is she…” A long pause. “I just saw the news on the television. Is my husband okay!?” Fideo’s hands were clutching the back of the couch tightly as he watched his mother’s expression drop further. “A concussion and a broken leg… Do you have any idea as to what or who caused this? Nothing yet…alright…my son and I will be heading to Rome right away.” Silvia took in a deep breath and hung up the phone. She turned to Fideo, her eyes widening when she saw tears at the corners of his eyes.

“He’s okay, _tesoro._ ” Silvia approached Fideo and gently ran her fingers through his hair. “Go pack a bag, we’re probably going to be in Rome for a couple of days.”

Fideo lowered his head and nodded, sniffling a little as he rubbed his eyes. He hated looking like a crybaby in front of his mother, but he couldn’t help but be deeply disturbed and upset by something so sudden and so horrible. He momentarily turned his head back to the TV to see if any new details had been announced, but it was just a repeat of what had been stated. He let out a sigh of defeat and quickly hurried to his room to pack a bag of clothes and other things that he would need.

As he was packing a couple of shirts, his phone started to buzz frantically. He picked it up to see he was already receiving several messages in his team’s group chat.

> **Giuliano:**  Hey Fideo, I just saw the news. Are you okay? I know you said your dad was visiting the team.  
>  **Donato:** Do you know anything about what happened?  
>  **Elia:**  To think that the entire team was unconscious and injured. How could such a thing happen so suddenly without anyone knowing what was going on beforehand.  
>  **Dario:** From what I heard from one of my friends in Rome, apparently, people had been hearing loud noises coming from the stadium before the explosion happened.

Fideo sat back against his dresser and began typing out a reply.

> **Fideo:** I know just about as much as you do. My father has a concussion and a broken leg. Mama and I are packing right now and are going to Rome to see how he is doing. When I find out more information, I will be certain to tell all of you. In the meantime, please keep my father and the others in your prayers.  
>  **Giosué** : Will do, Fideo. Hope everything will turn out okay.

“Yeah…me too…” Fideo rubbed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He looked back down at his phone and saw he had received a private message from Giosué.

> **Giosué:**  Just wanted to say that me and Donato will be praying for you tonight. Call us when you get to Rome and find out how your dad is doing.  
>  **Fideo:**  Okay. I will.

Fideo turned his phone off for the meantime, and finished packing the rest of his clothes. He turned off all his lights and headed to the living room. His mother wasn’t there, so he could only assume that she was still gathering her things. The kitchen had been cleaned up, and the warm, inviting smell of food was slowly fading. Knowing that the drive to Rome would be quite a while, he grabbed a few snack bars that he had stashed away in his backpack. He hoped that they would be able to stave off his hunger until things had calmed down enough that he could even think about sitting down to have a full meal.

He sat on the floor by the door, nibbling on one of the bars as he waited for Silvia. Sonno pit-patted over to his side and looked up at him, seemingly noticing his distress. “Mrow?”

Fideo silently reached over and tickled under his chin. Sonno purred and crawled into Fideo’s lap, curling up contently into a ball.

A few minutes passed in heavy silence until Fideo finally heard his mother leave her room. He slowly glanced up and waited for her to come into the living room. When she saw her son sitting so dejectedly, she gave a sad smile.

“Come on. Hopefully we won’t run into traffic.” She stated. Fideo gently shooed Sonno from his lap and stood up. He exited the home and leaped down the trio of steps, hurrying over to the family van. He was in such a hurry to get inside that he yanked on the passenger handle, before Silvia even had the chance to unlock it. “Fideo slow down. I know you are worried, but haste will only stress you out.”

Fideo slumped and moved his hand away from the handle. “You are right, sorry.”

Silvia shook her head and took out the car keys, clicking on the button to unlock the doors. Fideo climbed inside and tossed his bag in the back seat, buckling his seatbelt quickly. After putting her bag in the back, Silvia got into the car and started it up. She looked over at Fideo, who was slumped in his seat, his expression clearly showing how stressed and worried he was.

“Fideo…” Silvia reached over and gently took his hand. Fideo flinched a bit in surprise and turned to look at her. She leaned over and gave his forehead a little kiss. “It will be okay. I promise you that no matter what happens, everything will be okay in the end. So, don’t be scared or worried.”

It took Fideo a moment to process her words. She was right, he couldn’t allow himself to dwell on this so much already, when he knew so little about what was going on and what had happened. It would just lead him to have a nervous breakdown, which would only make the situation worse. He had to keep a level head and he had to be strong, at least for right now.

“Okay Mama…”

“Remember, I am going to be right here beside you the whole time.” She ruffled his hair before pulling away so she could back out of the driveway. “Now…then…” Her hands rested on the steering wheel and she took a moment to compose herself. “Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. Stay tuned for the next chapter where we head to Rome and the plot begins to slowly thicken. Please tell me what you guys think of this so far or leave me some kudos if you're enjoying it. Validation and praise helps encourage me to write more! 
> 
> I plan on having character sketches done for Giosué and Donato by the time I get finished with the next chapter so you guys can get a better idea of what they look like.


	3. A Liminal Space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After learning the news of what happened to his father and his former teammates, Fideo travels to Rome with his mother - and ends up running into an old friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Welcome to the newest chapter of Nuova Alba!! Hope you guys enjoy!!

For the most part, the drive to Rome was spent in silence. Fideo had spent most of the time staring out of the window, watching the scenery pass him by. His mind had been racing, wondering how his father was doing. Would he still be unconscious when they reached the hospital? How were the rest of the players that were injured? Was their going to be a lot of press waiting? He managed to keep these thoughts from stressing him out too much, but they did keep him antsy on on his toes, eagerly awaiting their arrival to the nation’s capital.

To distract his mind, he dug his phone out of his pocket and turned it on. However, instead of playing a game as he planned, he found himself hopelessly checking and refreshing news to see if there was any new information. Unfortunately, nothing had changed. It was the same news he had been hearing.

“Fideo…” Fideo’s eyes shifted over to his mother. “What did I tell you?”

A soft sigh slipped past Fideo’s lips and he exited out of the news app, changing it to a puzzle game. “Sorry…I’m just so worried…I want to know more.”

“I know sweetie. I do too, but you must have patience. We’re almost in Rome. Once we get arrive at the hospital I’m sure that we will find out more information about what happened.” She smiled, her attention diverting from the road momentarily. Fideo slumped in the passenger seat and lowered his head. The look on his face was pouty and nothing short of distressed, and it remained that way until they arrived to the capital city.

Fideo was anxious to get out of the car, and went from slumping to sitting at the edge of the seat, his hand lingering near the door handle. Silvia knew that he probably wouldn’t have the patience to sit in the car while she found a parking space, so when they finally arrived, she pulled up in front of the large hospital.

“Go on ahead. I’ll catch up after I park.” Silvia looked at Fideo, who quickly turned to unbuckle his seatbelt. He was in such a hurry that he fumbled with it a little before finally releasing himself.

“Thank you, Mama!” He bolted out of the car, slamming the door shut as he sprinted to the building. Silvia shook her head, a little exasperated as she pulled away to find a parking space.

Fideo bolted into the hospital, tripping on his feet a little as he approached one of the front counters. He stopped, taking in a few deep breaths, which concerned the blonde-haired woman sitting behind the desk. “Are you alright?”

“My..My father.” Fideo choked out between gasps for air. “What room... is Vitale Ardena in? I’m his son.”

The woman blinked. “Oh! Signore Ardena? He is in room 416.” She gave Fideo a warm smile before turning to her computer. “He still hasn’t regained consciousness from what I’m reading, but his condition appears to be improving.”

Fideo bit down on his lip and furrowed his eyebrows in disappointment. “I see…thank you for telling me this.” He managed a weak smile before he hurried off to the elevators. He pressed the call button and shifted on his feet nervously as he waited for one of them to come down. He heard to elevator to the far-right ding and he scurried over. When the elevator opened, he was the only person to step inside, which made the journey up a lot less awkward than it would have been if another person or multiple people had stepped in with him.

The ride to the fourth floor was quick. Fideo couldn’t help but teeter a little when the elevator came to a stop and gravity took its toll, causing his body to feel heavy. He shook his head and stepped out, making a beeline for room 416.

As he walked down the hallway, he caught a glimpse of a person leaving one of the rooms at the very end of it. A girl with dark brown skin and burgundy hair in a high ponytail that cascaded down to her waist, she was wearing a simple blue tee shirt and brown shorts.

Fideo froze in front of the door to his father’s room. She was so familiar but at the same time, she wasn’t. It wasn’t until she turned and her eyes met with his, sharp orange eyes with pupils that resembled a softly burning flame, that he recognized her. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words escaped him.

The girl didn’t seem to hold the same amount of shock in her expression that Fideo’s did, but her gaze didn’t break apart from his as she approached him.

“Well look who it is, the young prodigy himself.” The tiniest smirk formed on her otherwise blank face as she spoke. “I was not expecting to run into you…”

Fideo stood there, hand on the door handle, mouth wide open. “You…Iniga!? Is that you!?” Fideo gave a surprised smile and his hands moved over to take hers. “Wow, its been years!” The memories were quickly swimming their way to the surface in Fideo’s mind. Years ago, Iniga had been his closest friend. They had known each other since they were both infants, as their fathers were both on the same team.

Iniga looked at Fideo and her eyes shifted from his face to his hands. The smirk on her face quickly dropped and she shook her head as she pulled her hands away. The excited look on Fideo’s face shifted into something that was a mix of confusion, and disappointment in the fact that she didn’t seem to be as happy as he was.

“Eight years to be exact.” Her hands dropped to her side and her head tilted up towards the number plate on the door. “You must be here for your dad…he wasn’t in the best of shape when I last saw him…”

“You visited Papa?”

She nodded and turned to Fideo. “Yeah. I have paid all the players a visit. I was at my father’s hotel room when I found out what happened…I have been here for a few hours rotating between rooms getting whatever bits and pieces I could from whoever was conscious.” She sighed and stuck her hands in her pocket.

“Your…oh yeah…your father is still on the team.” Fideo rubbed his arm. Iniga nodded once again.

“Mmhm…he’s already awake. He had a broken shoulder and a broken rib.”

“What happened…what have you found out from the ones who are awake?” Fideo asked, tilting his head. Iniga said nothing and simply nudged her head towards the door, indicating she wanted to talk in a more private area. Fideo turned and placed his hand back on the handle, opening the heavy wooden door. He stepped inside of the silent room and Iniga followed behind him. As the door clicked closed, Fideo looked at his father. He wasn’t yet conscious, as the woman at the front desk said. His right leg was already in a cast, held off the bed in a sling. “Papa…”

Iniga placed a hand on his shoulder, walking past him towards the sofa by the bed. She sat down and Fideo stared quietly at her downcast face before he joined her. He sat on the opposite end, crossing his legs.

“Okay…this is all I’ve been able to gather from the others. Given most of them seemed to be…confused.” Iniga began. She leaned back on the sofa and tilted her head up to stare at the stark white ceiling. “Apparently, they had been threatened into a match by a group of masked players. According to Signore Costa, it was hard to tell how old they all were but some of them seemed to be around our age just by looking at their body types. When they went into the match, they had no idea how powerful they all would be…no one can really give me exact details on what happened in the match aside from the fact they weren’t even able to get close to their goal…”

Fideo’s blood ran cold in response. “What…but they’re the best team in Italy!? They couldn’t even get close to a single goal!?”

Iniga furrowed her brows and her fist clenched in response. “They couldn’t even come close to matching up to them. Apparently, they were just too fast, too powerful...”

There was a long, almost impossibly heavy silence. The atmosphere around them took on a life of its own and hung its weight on everything in the room. Iniga’s eyes rolled over and she glanced at Fideo from the corner of her eye, tilting her head only slightly to face him.

“My father told me…that they claimed to be aliens…”

“What!?” Fideo’s mind couldn’t even begin to process what was just said to him. Aliens? Something like that seemed absolutely absurd. It wasn’t that Fideo doubted the existence of aliens -- Donato had managed to convince him over the years that they weren’t alone in the universe. But the thought of aliens doing something so specific and affecting people so close to him seemed almost unfathomable. He couldn’t wrap his mind around it. He didn’t know how to.

“I have no idea what to think of it either…” Iniga rested her hands in her lap, twiddling her thumbs as her gaze went back to the ceiling. “But that is what I was told…and I have nothing else to go with right now….” She sighed and her eyes closed. Fideo’s tense body slumped and he brought his legs up. He rested his chin on his knees and let out a tight breath.

“I do not know what to say…”

“There really isn’t much to say, I don’t think…not in a situation like this…” Iniga mumbled. Fideo hated this. There was so much more he wished that he could say. He wished his mind could turn his feelings into coherent thoughts.

Moments passed in silence and the environment around Fideo began to seem almost surreal. He could feel himself begin to disconnect from reality, turning everything around him a little fuzzy. It wasn’t until he heard the door open again that his body jolted back into that of the real world. He tilted his head up and saw Silvia walk in the room. Her eyes darted from her husband, to her son.

“Fideo!” She smiled and shut the door behind her. Her attention then shifted to Iniga, who had moved her head straight forward. “Oh! Are you Iniga?”

Iniga raised a hand and waved to Silvia. “Ciao, Signora Ardena. It’s been a long time.”

Silvia smiled lovingly and her cheery aura dispatched the once heavy atmosphere. “Oh my! Look at you! You’ve grown up so much! The last time I saw you, you were so small and cute...you’ve grown into a beauty like your mother.”

Silvia didn’t notice, but Fideo caught the slight fault in Iniga’s expression and the way her body twitched in reaction to her words. However, it was very brief and quickly replaced with a soft smile. “Signora, you flatter me…” Iniga chuckled and pushed the bangs on the left side of her face behind her ear. Her body tilted forward and she rested her other hand on her knee. “It is very nice to see you. Signore Ardena was right went he told me you haven’t change much since I last saw you.”

A blush rose to Silvia’s cheeks and she gave a hearty laugh, waving her hand as the other rested on her warm cheek. “Now you are the one flattering me.”

Fideo was a bit surprised, in just moments it seemed like Iniga’s personality had committed a complete 180. She didn’t seem as aloof as she did when she had ‘greeted’ him.

Silvia’s looked at the two young teens with soft eyes before she glanced at her husband again. “My poor amore…” She walked over and gently cupped one of his cheeks, which was swollen with a bruise. “He looks like he’s been hit by a car…do either of you know more about what happened.”

Iniga looked over at Fideo, as if silently asking him whether she should tell her what she had told him. Fideo nodded and Iniga let out a heavy sigh.

“They were challenged to a match by a…mystery team…and were completely demolished.” Iniga tapped her fingers against her knee, unable to look Silvia directly in the face. “That’s all I really know…” She lied.

“One team managed to cause this much damage…I wonder if they were terrorists.”

Iniga and Fideo both went silent and gave each other awkward silences. The heavy atmosphere once again returned to the room – only to be broken by the sound of Fideo’s stomach loudly growling.

“Nnn…oops…sorry.” A red blush of embarrassment rose to Fideo’s cheeks and he wrapped his arms around himself. Iniga stared at him and covered her mouth with her hand, obviously hiding a smile.

“You should do something about whatever is in there before it starts developing its own language.” She chuckled, causing Fideo’s blush to grow even stronger.

“Oh dear…we didn’t eat dinner before we came here.” Silvia explained, humming as she tilted up on her tiptoes. “Why don’t I go pick up a pizza?”

“That sounds wonderful, Mama.” Fideo smiled, his stomach growling even louder.

“Alright! Would you like some too, Iniga?” Silvia asked, looking at Iniga who had a hand rested thoughtfully on her chin.

“That would be nice…” She nodded. “Um…I’m not picky so I’m fine with whatever you like…”

Silvia clasped her hands together. “Alright dear. I’ll just get a simple margherita pizza.” She giggled. “Maybe the smell will help Vitale wake up~.” She turned and quickly left the room, leaving Fideo and Iniga alone with the unconscious Vitale.

“I know she is probably joking…but I wouldn’t doubt if it did…” Fideo mumbled under his breath.

“I saw him eat at a restaurant yesterday, I know exactly what you are talking about.” Iniga mumbled back. “He downed seven servings of tortellini and still had room for the salad and dessert.”

Fideo held his hands together in front of his face and took in a sharp breath through his nose. “Of course he did…he has no impulse control when it comes to food…”

“Clearly.” Iniga stood up and took a few steps, stopping in front of the window. She pulled the curtains back and stared out into the city view. The look on her face was very pensive, like her mind was attempting to sort through many things at once. “I…” Iniga started to speak but stopped herself and sighed. Her hands were gripping tightly to the curtain.

“Iniga…?”

“It’s nothing…it’s not important right now…” Iniga walked back over and plopped down onto the couch. She reached into her brown shoulder bag and pulled out a small bottle. Upon closer inspection, it was one of those little energy shot drinks. Iniga unscrewed the top and quickly downed the liquid inside.

“Oh…” Fideo slumped and rubbed his arm. He had a nagging feeling that Iniga was holding back on saying something to him, but he wasn’t sure what.

Iniga sighed as she pulled the bottle away from her lips. “Anyway…” Her eyes went half lidded and she stared down at the floor. She tapped her finger against the violet bottle in her hand, obviously trying to think of a way to continue the conversation. “You’ve been making quite a name for yourself lately I see…since your team won youth nationals.”

Fideo rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah I guess I have…”

“I saw the match on TV…it was the first time seeing you in action since we were little…” Iniga gazed out of the window, a slight glaze over her eyes. “I will admit…It was impressive…”

“Thank you…” Fideo paused, and an important thought crossed his mind. “I suppose you’re still in soccer too…”

“Mmhm…I’m the captain and keeper on my academy’s team…”

“Oh?” Fideo tilted his head curiously, wondering which academy it was. Now that he thought about it, he was a little surprised that he had never heard of her endeavors, considering that she was also the child of a pro league player – or maybe he just hadn’t paid attention in the right places. That thought made his stomach turn a little with guilt.

“If you look up Milan Girls’ Academy on YouTube, you’ll find a few of our matches there…” Iniga said as she slipped the little violet bottle back in her purse. She was so subtle about it, that Fideo almost didn’t catch it. Rather than try and say anything about it, Fideo simply pulled out his phone to do as she had suggested.

Just as he was typing in the name of the academy, Iniga turned and looked at him with a tinge of red to her face. “Don’t – never mind. You can watch now if you want, but your mom will probably be back with the pizza before you have a chance to get through one match.”

Fideo pursed his lips and nodded quietly in agreement. Instead, he switched his phone over to his team’s group chat.

> **Fideo:** Hey guys. I’m at the hospital right now. My dad’s still unconscious but he will be okay.’  
>  **Leonzio:** That’s good. Did you find out what happened?  
>  **Elia:** The news isn’t telling us much and internet isn’t any better.  
>  **Fideo:** It’s a really long story and I don’t know if you guys will believe it.  
>  **Virgilio:** What do you mean by that?  
>  **Marino:** ???  
>  **Celso:** How complicated could it be?

Fideo sighed to himself, wondering how exactly he should word the situation in a way that would make sense. It took a minute of staring at his phone, fingers lingering over the screen, before his mind finally put together the ‘right ‘string of words.

> **Fideo:** I know this is going to sound crazy, but it was aliens.  
>  **Algiso:** What  
>  **Elia:** What?  
>  **Giuliano:** Aliens? What?  
>  **Dario:** Fideo are you high?  
>  **Marino** : ????????????  
>  **Leonzio:** What the hell?  
>  **Celso:** Aliens?  
>  **Donato:** ALIENS?! SEE!? I TOLD YOU GUYS THEY’RE REAL!!  
>  **Giosué:** Fideo what?

Fideo felt a small bead of sweat run down down his forehead. Okay, maybe he had put it a bit too bluntly.

> **Fideo:** I know it sounds crazy but that’s what my friend told me. She told me what the other players had told her. Apparently, a team of aliens had challenged them to a soccer match.  
>  **Marino:** ?????  
>  **Leonzio:** Wait, you have a friend that’s a girl?  
>  **Fideo:** It’s a long story, but that’s not important right now.  
>  **Dario:** Is she hot?   
>  **Fideo:** Why does that matter?!  
>  **Giosué:** Guys this really isn’t the time.  
>  **Leonzio:** There is always time for girls.  
>  **Donato:** I would rather hear about the aliens.  
>  **Elia:** Show us what your friend looks like at least so we know if she’s cute or not.  
>  **Fideo:** THIS ISN’T THE TIME! Besides how do you expect me to do that?  
>  **Giuliano:** Can you guys not be annoying for five seconds?  
>  **Dario:** Idk. Sneak a pic.  
>  **Fideo:** What if she gets mad?  
>  **Giosué:** Don’t listen to them Fideo.  
>  **Leonzio:** Aww come on.  
>  **Fideo:** I guess I can try

Fideo turned over to look at Iniga, noticing that she was looking right at him, and his phone. He felt his entire body flare up with an embarrassed heat. “Iniga! Wait um…”

Iniga rolled her eyes and snatched his phone away from him. “Looks like your friends are mostly a bunch of dumb boys. I guess I can play along for a minute.” She turned on the camera and held the phone in front of her face. She then grabbed Fideo and pulled him in for a side hug, much to his surprise.

“Eh!?” Fideo glanced at the camera with a shocked face and barely had time to react before Iniga took a picture and sent it to the group chat. After that, she let him go and returned the phone.

“Here.”

Fideo swallowed hard and held the phone in his now trembling hands. _“Well she’s about as unpredictable as I remember her at least…”_ He turned his attention back to the screen to see his phone was now blowing up with messages.

> **Dario:** Nice.  
>  **Leonzio:** Wait have I seen that girl somewhere before? Isn’t that Alonso Acciai’s kid?  
>  **Elia:** That would explain how Fideo knows her. How come you’ve never mentioned her before Fideo.  
>  **Fideo:** I told you it's a long story!  
>  **Giosué:** Can we please get back on topic before my entire room fills with the snakes that are manifesting from you guys being a bunch of puttanas?  
>  **Marino:** ^^^^  
>  **Dario:** Well I don’t know how you expect us to talk about aliens when they don’t exist.  
>  **Donato:** Fuck you.  
>  **Fideo:** I’m starting to get a headache.  
>  **Donato:** I want to talk about the aliens. Do you know anything about them?  
>  **Celso:** Having some more information would make me feel a lot less confused right now.  
>  **Fideo:** All I know is that they were powerful and claimed to be aliens. They wore masks so the team doesn’t know what any of them looked like.  
>  **Giosué:** I only feel more confused now : {  
>  **Fideo:** I wish that I knew more…  
>  **Giuliano:** Don’t worry about it too much right now, Fideo. At least you know more now than you did before.  
>  **Fideo:** I guess.

“I’m back!” Fideo’s attention was torn away from his phone when he heard the door opening. He glanced up as his mother walked in, a large pizza box in one hand, and a plastic bag with a few bottles inside. “I’m sorry that I took so long!”

Fideo turned his phone off amid it buzzing with more messages. “It’s okay, mama!” At the delicious scent of food, his stomach gave an incredibly loud growl. “You came at just the right time…”

Silvia smiled and sat the box and bag down on a small table in front of the sofa. “Wonderful! I bought some cream soda too!” Both Iniga and Fideo’s eyes lit up at this and they reached for the bag at the same time, pulling out two glass bottles full of the sweet liquid.

“Oh my, honestly you two are still not too much different than when you were both six.” Silvia giggled as she opened the box of pizza. Iniga's cheeks flushed a soft pink as she reached into her bag and pulled out a small metal bottle opener.

“Cream soda is still the best…” She murmured, popping the top off her soda. She then handed the opener to Fideo, who copied her actions. When he sat it down on the table, it dawned on him that it was a strange thing to just be carrying around. Then again, his mom usually had just about everything on her in her purse, so maybe it was just a girl thing?

“Well I know this is by no means a traditional or homemade meal, but shall we say Grace before we eat?” Silvia asked. “I know it may seem a little silly but…”

“It’s okay Signora.” Iniga smiled softly. Fideo nodded in agreement and Silvia happily clapped her hands together.

“Wonderful! Fideo, would you do the honors.”

Fideo nodded and cleared his throat, bowing his head to pray. “Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen…”

“Amen.” Silvia and Iniga repeated. When the three of them raised their heads, Fideo was the first to reach over and open the pizza box. He grabbed a slice and took a bite, melting a little at the taste. It was still perfectly warm.

After the three of them had eaten a few slices of the pizza, Iniga nudged Fideo and handed him a new slice. “Huh…what’s this?” He asked. Iniga said nothing as she stood up and walked over to Vitale’s bed. She waved a slice in front of his face which confused Fideo at first, until he remembered their earlier conversation. With a shrug, he stood up and walked over to the other side of the bed, waving his own slice in front of his father’s face.

Silvia couldn’t have possibly looked any more confused. “Are…Are you two really trying to wake him with food.”

“Yes.” The both replied in unison.

“Come on Papa, we have dinner.” Fideo stated as he dangled the pizza in front of his father’s face. As the minutes passed, it didn’t seem like it was gonna work.

“Well it was interesting in theory at least…” Iniga mumbled. Fideo furrowed his brows and sighed, dropping his slice of pizza right on Vitale’s face. Iniga looked at him in pure shock and confusion, which only escalated when Vitale groaned a little.

“S…Something warm…it…smells good….” He mumbled. Fideo moved the slice away and Vitale’s eyes slowly opened. “Nnn…where am I…” He looked between Fideo and Iniga. “Fideo…”

"I can't believe that worked." 

“Oh my!” Silvia shot up and ran over next to Fideo. “Fideo, did you really have to do that!?” She took a napkin and quickly cleaned off the confused Vitale.

“Silvia…?”

“It’s me, amore.” Silvia leaned down and gave Vitale a kiss on the forehead. “Are you okay…?”

“My…everything…hurts…and what was that on my face….”

“Fideo dropped a pizza slice on you to wake you up…” Iniga stated as she took a bit of the slice she had in her hand, which had not been dropped on the former pro striker. Vitale went silent for a moment and closed his eyes, seemingly in exasperation, before breaking out into a few weak chuckles.

“I see…well thank you Fideo…” Vitale opened his eyes again and looked around him. “Am I in the hospital…?”

Iniga nodded. “Do you remember the same thing the others did…?”

“I remember…yes, I remember the team of…they called themselves Aliea….” He rubbed his head and his eyes became tired. “They decimated us like we weren’t even worthy of being called practice. They were so fast, so strong…but I couldn’t even get an idea of who they were because of those damned white masks they were wearing…and the captain wasn’t marked so it could have been any one of them playing leader. It was hard to tell who was calling the shots, they didn’t even communicate to each other during the match…”

“That’s a new detail…” Iniga looked at Fideo and stuck her hands in her pockets. “I’m going to get going, I don’t want to intrude on your family time.” Before Fideo, or anyone for that matter, could say anything, Iniga hurried out of the room. Fideo’s expression dropped, which Vitale caught quickly.

“Fideo…?”

“I don’t understand…” Fideo mumbled. Silvia and Vitale looked at each other and Vitale sighed. He reached over and grabbed the remote control by his bed, using it to raise himself up a little. “Papa why didn’t you tell me that she was here with her father?

“Because she told me not to…I’m not sure why, considering she was constantly asking me about you.”

Fideo slumped and sat down on the bed with his father. “I see…” Now, he understood even less about Iniga than he thought he did. It was perplexing, but he knew that there wasn't much he could do about it.

Vitale reached over and gently ruffled Fideo's hair. Fideo couldn't help but smile, and the dark clouds looming over his head faded away some. "I'm glad that you're okay, Papa. When Mama and I heard the news back home...I was so scared..."

"I'm sorry that I worried the both of you..." Vitale gave a heavy sigh. "This is definitely not how I wanted to spend my reunion with the old team...I hadn't felt that weak and powerless in so long..."

"Amore..."

Vitale's eyes shifted between Silvia and Fideo's worried faces. "I wish I could remember more...but everything is so foggy."

"It's okay, Papa. You should focus on resting and getting better right now..." Fideo whispered, reaching over to take his father's hand. Another sigh slipped past Vitale and he diverted his gaze to the open window.

"You're right." He gave Fideo a smile. "I promise I'll be back on my feet in no time. It's going to take more than a broken leg to keep me down and out forever."

"Papa I just said to take it easy..." Fideo mumbled, pulling away to scratch at his cheek. In response, Vitale simply laughed.

Fideo and Silvia spent a few hours visiting with Vitale before the two of them finally decided to leave and head to a nearby hotel. The sun had already long set by this point, and the fatigue of the stressful day had finally begun to catch up Fideo. The moment they arrived in the room, Fideo kicked off his shoes and plopped down on one of the beds, not even bothering to go and change into the pajamas he had packed.

"Fideo. You know you shouldn't go to sleep in your day clothes." Silvia hummed, staring at her son as he lay face down in the sheets. "Fideo~!" She reached over and gently shook him, earning a small groan in return.

"Alright Mama...." Fideo sat up and rubbed his eyes. Silvia did her son a small favor and tossed him the bag that he had packed. He caught it and with a smile, she left for the bathroom. A few moment later, he heard the shower turning on.

Fideo was quick to change into the white tank top and black shorts that he had packed. He stuffed the clothes he had been wearing in the corner of the bag, and flopped back on the bed. Now, he could feel his mind begin to race. So much had happened in one day that he was still struggling to process and understand.

He wasn't sure what to believe either. It was hard to accept the idea that his father and his former teammates had all been completely obliterated by a group of masked players that claimed to be aliens.

"Aliea..." Fideo rolled over in on the bed and stared over at the small air conditioning unit as it filled the room with chill air. "What will they do next...?"

He grabbed his phone and turned it on. There were messages in the group chat, but he chose to ignore them for now in favor of obsessively scanning over each news outlet. There was still no mention of anything new that matched up to the stories he had been hearing, though he supposed there probably wouldn't be. Something like that...how could the average person possibly believe it?

With a heavy sigh, Fideo shook his head and exited out of the news app.

_“If you look up Milan Girls’ Academy on YouTube, you’ll find a few of our matches there…"_

"Oh yeah..." Fideo tilted his head up to stare at the ceiling as he remembered Iniga's earlier suggestion to him. "I should probably do that now..."

He opened the YouTube app and tapped in the name of Iniga's school. The first video that came up had been posted a few weeks ago, and it had over half a million views. Fideo tapped on the video and sat up, intensely fixated on the screen.

It was Milan's Girls’ Academy against another school from Tuscany. It was fiercely intense match, even more so than some of the matches that he had played during nationals. In comparison to his own style of leading, Fideo noted that Iniga seemed rather cold as she directed her team as captain. Not once did she seem to smile, not even when her team made the first goal.

It wasn't until after the second half that the other team managed to get enough of an upper hand to approach the goal.

> _"Azure Blast!" The gold-haired striker kicked the ball and it was enveloped in a bright blue blast as it flew towards the goal. Iniga stood her ground and flipped her bangs out of her face._
> 
> _"Eruption!!" Iniga raised her hands high in the air, causing the ground the goal to crack and split apart. From these cracks, a wall of glowing hot lava rose and surrounded the goal. Iniga then brought her hands in front of her and the lava quickly hardened into solid rock as the ball made contact, stopping it completely._

Fideo sat his phone down on the bed and watched as the ball fell to the grass. There was no doubt about it, Iniga had grown into a powerhouse – just as he himself had. She had to be just as strong as Donato was, maybe even more so.

“How come I haven’t heard about her and her team until now…” Fideo shut off his phone and laid back on the bed. “Is girls’ soccer really that underrated in comparison…?”

He groaned loudly and rolled over on his stomach, beating his fists against the pillows to work out the building up frustration inside of his mind. He had so many question, and there were so many things that he was begging to know, that it was almost suffocating him. But, he knew that he wasn’t going to get closure this soon – life just didn’t work that way, no matter how much he wished it would.

He closed his eyes and let out a soft breath.

He had to stop himself from thinking. There was no use dwelling on it too much now, not when it was this late. Tomorrow would be another day – a better time to sort out his issues and questions.

Maybe there would be some good news ahead of him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this chapter turned out longer than I thought it would, but I hope that you enjoyed it! 
> 
> Some notes: 
> 
> I have some drawing of Iniga:  
> http://kanascurrent.tumblr.com/post/165029035309/  
> http://kanascurrent.tumblr.com/post/164421022799/
> 
> And here is the list of the players Fideo's school team/their numbers and positions (please note not all of them will be given focus): 
> 
> 1 - Donato - GK  
> 2 - Leonzio - DF  
> 3 - Dario - DF  
> 4 - Celso - DF  
> 5 - Virgilio - DF  
> 6 - Elia - MF  
> 7 - Giuliano - MF  
> 8 - Marino - MF  
> 9 - Algiso - MF  
> 10 - Fideo - FW  
> 11 - Giosué - FW
> 
> Anyway stick with me for the next installment! Next chapter we are going to run into some more familiar faces~


End file.
